Haste and Waste; Or, the Young Pilot of Lake Champlain. A Story for Young People by - (top 100 books to read txt) 📗

a collection of people had assembled on the unfinished wharf and the shore to witness the departure of the steamer. As Captain Lawry paced the deck, there was a slight commotion in the crowd, and three persons passed through, making their way to the deck. One of them was the sheriff who had arrested the ferryman a few days before. He was followed by Mr. Taylor, his father's creditor, and Ben Wilford.

"I'm sorry to trouble you, Lawry," said the official; "but I suppose
I must do my duty."

"What's the matter, sir?" asked Lawry. "What have I done?"

"Nothing, my boy. I think this is rather mean business; but I can't help it," replied the sheriff, as he produced certain documents. "Your father owes Mr. Taylor a note of nine hundred and fifty dollars, on which the interest has not been paid for two years, making the debt ten hundred and sixty-four dollars."

"But the place is mortgaged for that," replied Lawry.

"I have just foreclosed the mortgage; and now I must attach this steamboat."

"Attach it!" groaned Lawry.

"Such are my orders; your father's place would hardly sell for enough to pay the debt."

"But this boat is mine," pleaded Lawry.

"You are a minor, Lawry; and your father is entitled by law to all your earnings, as you have a claim on him for your support. I can't stop to explain this matter. The steamer is in my possession now, subject to the decree of the court. I shall appoint a person to take charge of her and run her for the benefit of the parties in interest."

"That's too bad!" exclaimed Lawry.

"I know it is; but I can't help it," replied the sheriff. "I shall appoint your brother, and from this time he has full control of her."

It was evident even to Lawry, who had not been informed of his brother's worst intentions, that Ben was at the bottom of this conspiracy. Such was indeed the truth. Mr. Taylor was a young man who had recently inherited a large fortune, which, it was plain, would soon be squandered, for he was both intemperate and reckless. Ben had helped him home one night after a drunken carousal, which had been the beginning of an intimacy between them, for the younger tippler was not one to neglect an opportunity to secure a wealthy friend.

They had talked together about the Woodville on several occasions, and Ben had suggested in what manner he might obtain the debt due him. On the night before the visit of the sheriff to the steamer, the malignant and jealous brother had repeated to his dissipated patron the story of his grievances—that he was a "nobody" at home, and that Lawry wanted to make a deck-hand of him. Though not a badly disposed man in the main, Taylor listened with interest and sympathy to the exaggerated and distorted narrative, and the plan by which Ben was to be put in possession of the steamer was matured.

The creditor went to a lawyer, one of his boon companions, who was quite willing to make business for himself; and he had looked up the law and arranged the facts, by which he expected to hold the steamer. Doubtless it was a very ingenious scheme, and perhaps it is unfortunate that the case never came to trial, for it involved some interesting legal points. Thus far the design had been carried out, and Ben was in command of the steamer, as an employee of the sheriff.

"I won't be as hard with you, Lawry, as you were with me," said Ben, as he walked up to Lawry in the wheel-house, to which he had retreated to hide his confusion.

"This is your work, Ben," replied the youth bitterly.

"I was bound to have the command of this steamer, and I have got it," added Ben, with malignant triumph.

"I know you have; you put Mr. Taylor up to this, or he never would have done it."

"Don't snarl about it, Lawry; the thing is done, and you can't help yourself. The sheriff has given me the command of the boat."

"And he has attached the place. Mother will be turned out of house and home!" cried Lawry, unable to repress his tears.

"No, she won't; that will be all right."

"Oh, Ben! How could you do it?"

"You drove me to it. It is all your fault, Lawry; so you needn't whine about it. Don't make a fuss; here comes Taylor."

"I don't want to see him," said Lawry, moving toward the door.

"Don't go off; I'm going to take Taylor and his friends up the lake, to give them a sail."

"The boat is engaged to Mr. Sherwood, to-day."

"I can't help it; he will not have her to-day. Come, Lawry, be a man. I won't be as hard with you, I say, as you were with me. I don't ask you to be a deck-hand. You shall be the pilot still."

"No, I won't."

"Won't you?"

"I will not," said Lawry firmly, as he dried his tears. "The boat is engaged to Mr. Sherwood, and he has invited a party to go with him. They were to start at nine o'clock, and they will be down here soon."

"Can't help it. I promised to take Taylor and his friends out, and they are all here now. There are the stores for his party," replied Ben, as a couple of men brought a large basket on board, from the top of which protruded the necks of a demijohn and several bottles.

"I shall not go with that party," added Lawry.

"But I want a pilot," said Ben.

"What's the trouble, Wilford?" demanded Taylor.

"Let me tell him you will go, Lawry?" whispered Ben. "He may be hard on you if you don't."

"I will not. I must see Mr. Sherwood at once."

"What's the matter?" asked Ethan.

Lawry was explaining what had happened, when Ben came down with
Taylor.

"I shall not go in her till I have seen Mr. Sherwood," added Lawry, as he finished his brief statement.

"Then I shall not," said Ethan.

"I can steer her myself," said Ben to Taylor.

"Certainly you can."

"Mr. Sherwood will be down soon, and we must be off before he gets here."

"Go up, and start her then," added Taylor.

Without noticing Lawry and Ethan, Ben rushed up to the wheel-house, and ordered the deck-hands to cast off the fasts, which was done. He knew how to steer a boat, and understood the bells, having had considerable experience on board the large steamers. He rang to back her, supposing Ethan was at his post in the engine-room.

She did not back, and he rang again, but with no better success than before.

"Back her!" shouted he, through the speaking-tube.

There was no answer; and, filled with anger, the new captain rushed down to the engine-room to "blow up" the engineer. He found Ethan on the main-deck.

"What are you doing there?" demanded Ben. "Don't you hear the bells?"

"I heard them," replied Ethan quietly.

"Why don't you start her, then?"

"I've nothing to do with her."

"Don't you run that engine?"

"I don't."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I will have nothing to do with the engine as things are now."

Ben raved and stormed at Ethan; then he tried to coax him to take his place; but the engineer was as firm as the pilot had been. Taylor offered him ten dollars if he would run the engine that day; but he positively refused. The new captain then went down to the fire-room, where the man in charge of the furnaces was promoted to the position of engineer.

"Now we can go it," said Ben.

"No; don't start her," said the sheriff.

"Why not?"

"I am responsible for the safety of this boat, and she shall not go with neither pilot nor engineer."

Taylor and the new captain swore terribly; but the sheriff was immovable.

CHAPTER XVI THE EXCURSION TO WHITEHALL

Lawry was no lawyer, and was therefore unable to form an opinion in regard to the legality of the steps by which the Woodville had been taken from him. It was an accomplished fact, and he was as disconsolate as though he had lost his best friend. He went on shore, and until the peremptory order of the sheriff was given, he expected to see the steamer shoot out from the wharf and disappear beyond the point, in charge of another person than himself.

He had refused to pilot the steamer under the new order of things, not because he wished to be spiteful to his brother, but because he was smarting under a sense of injustice, which unfitted him for the duty. Though he did not comprehend the legal measures which had been taken, he felt that there was something wrong. The Woodville belonged to him, not to his father; and though he was willing to give all his earnings for the support of the family, and even to pay off the mortgage on the place, he felt that it was not right to take the steamer from him.

He stood on the wharf, paralyzed by the calamity which had overtaken him. He wanted to do something, but he did not know what to do. The sheriff, by his caution, had defeated the plans of the new captain, and Lawry was waiting to see what would happen next. He wished to see Mr. Sherwood, and he would have hastened up to his house if he could have endured the thought of losing sight of the steamer even for a moment. Ethan was still on deck, for though he refused to run the engine, he felt it to be his duty to stand by and see that no accident happened, for the steam was up, and the fireman was an unskillful person.

Ben Wilford and Taylor were disappointed and chagrined at their failure to get off. They stormed and swore, till it was apparent that storming and swearing would not start the steamer. The sheriff positively refused to let the boat depart without a competent pilot and engineer.

"What shall we do, Wilford?" said Taylor. "Can't you persuade your brother to take hold again?"

"He's as obstinate as a mule; but I'll try," replied Ben.

"Offer him twenty dollars for his day's work," added Taylor.

"I may be able to compromise with him, if you're willing."

"Anything you please, if you can make him and the other fellow go with us."

"Lawry, Mr. Taylor will give you twenty dollars if you will pilot the steamer to-day," said Ben.

"I wouldn't go for a hundred," replied the young pilot. "I won't go with you at any rate."

"Don't be so obstinate, Lawry."

"I engaged the boat to Mr. Sherwood, and I will not go with anybody else."

"Mr. Sherwood won't care when he finds out that you are not to blame. You can't resist the law, and it isn't your fault."

"Ben, I wouldn't do what you have done for all the steamers on the lake. You have got this man to attach the property, and take the house away from mother, just because you wanted to be captain of this steamer."

"What's the use of talking about that, Lawry?" replied Ben impatiently. "I'm going to be captain of this steamer, anyhow; and the sooner you make up your mind to it, the better it will be for you."

"I can't help myself."

"I know you can't, and for that reason you had better submit with a good grace. If you will take your place in the wheel-house, Mr. Taylor will remove the attachment."

"Will he?"

"I will," replied Taylor.

"And put everything where it was before?" asked Lawry.

"Of course I am to be captain, and Mr. Taylor is to have the boat to-day," added Ben.

"Mr. Taylor can't have her to-day," said Lawry firmly. "I engaged her to Mr. Sherwood, and if anybody has her to-day, he must. That's all I want to say about it now."

The young pilot turned on his heel and walked away. His brother and the creditor were conspirators, and he wanted nothing to do with them. He might have been less resolute, if he had not seen Mr. Sherwood's carriage stop at the head of the wharf.

"Are you all ready, Lawry?" asked Mr. Sherwood.

The poor boy could make no reply; he burst into tears, and turned away from his kind friend.

"What's the matter, Lawry?" demanded Mr. Sherwood.

"I suppose he feels bad, sir," interposed the sheriff.